A witch burdened with pain, a woman cursed with a ravenous inheritance.
by Lea Katarina Gobec
“You know your grandfather was the Pannonian Witch, right?”
Stuck making cheap enchantments for her fellow villagers at the edge of the swamp and weekly card games at the local café, Gordana has one final go at changing her fate at the end of her long and miserable life.
“I hope he told you that much.”
The newcomer Monika, a city woman down on her luck, confronted with a threatening inheritance hidden deep in the entangled roots of the old oaks, might be Gordana’s last chance of turning her life around—unless the forest decides against it.
“And I hope he warned you I’m nothing like him.”
At the crossroads of wits and bad choices, nature at its best and at its deadliest, the backdrop of a secluded nature park plays out its own dark role in author Lea Katarina Gobec’s debut eco horror novella The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje.
Enjoy this perilous trip into hidden parts of modern-day Europe with a special double feature! Included in this edition is The Secret of Mrtvi Kal, a short story about the price of artistry, adoration, and annihilation.
cover art: Antonio Filipović Athan
OUT NOW!
Get the paperback:
Get the ebook:
Add it to your TBR:
Praise for The Last Witch of Lonjsko Polje
“Lea’s vivid descriptions will crawl all over your skin, leaving a slimy trail of decay and desolation. Inside these pages, you can feel the quiet horror of unavoidable death, sorrow for all things lost,and bone-deep reverence for nature.” Antonija Mežnarić, author of It Eats Us From the Inside
“Prose so rich and melancholy you can smell the marsh and feel tree bark under your fingertips; all while it’s instilling in you a deep sense of both awe and dread at the primordial forces of nature.” Igor Rendić, author of A Town Called River
“Compassionate and unforgiving at the same time, it juxtaposes the link between humanity and nature in a way that will make your skin crawl.” Ivana Geček, author of Bye-Bye, Babaroga
“A perfect horror experience for everyone who’s ever found bugs somewhere they shouldn’t have been. You will be awed by the magnificence of the beauty and quiet sadness of Lonjsko Polje, but also left with an unpleasant sensation of something crawling down your shirt.” Petra Pine, author of A Night to Slay For
“In surprisingly few pages, the author manages to create characters that feel tangible and real…”
@knjigica_kavica
“I love stories about witches, things that lurk in the dark, in the woods, creepy critters… this book ticks all the boxes.”
@contessa_tamara
“Lea beautifully lures us into the story and creates the atmosphere in a way it feels like you’re really there. I don’t have a fear of bugs, but after reading this I had a feeling of something crawling all over me.”
@svemir_knjiga
“The atmosphere was eerie, properly witchy, and truly haunting.”
@books.with.paola
“You can feel the author’s love and respect toward nature as something beyond us as humans, something holy.”
@manicteadrinker
“Lea’s words have raised the feelings of dread and repulsion in such a beautiful way that rarely any book had before, and despite loving all manner of crawly critters, even I would sometimes scratch an imaginary itch…”
@koffeinvergiftung
Shtriga Books 